Igor Thiago scored twice in the last 10 minutes to help Brentford beat Burnley, who have now lost their past four league games, in an exciting finish at the Gtech Community Stadium.
The Brazilian opened the scoring in the 81st minute from the penalty spot before Zian Flemming responded with a spot-kick of his own a few minutes later.
Just as it appeared that the spoils would be shared Thiago popped up in the area with a superb 86th-minute finish before Dango Ouattara wrapped up the points in stoppage time.
Keith Andrews backed his striker to challenge for a Brazil call-up after Thiago scored his 11th league goal of the season. “Thiago just needs to keep doing what he is doing, consistently do it well, and the goals will come,” he said. “I have just been told that he is the top-scoring Brazilian in all of the major divisions, so it is pretty impressive really, isn’t it?
“If he maintains that I know it is a big dream of his and one that we are supporting him with. Hopefully, that will happen for him. ”
Mikkel Damsgaard had the first shot on goal, but his tame effort was straight at Martin Dubravka. The Brentford captain, Nathan Collins, should have scored after getting on the end of a corner shortly after, but his header went wide of the left post.
Hannibal Mejbri appeared to be tripped in the area by Mathias Jensen, but the referee, Sam Barrott, booked Mejbri for diving, with the replay showing that Jensen made minimal contact with the 22-year-old.
Thiago was picked out in the centre of the area by a Damsgaard cut-back in the 19th minute, but his attempt failed to find the top-left corner.
The Brentford goalkeeper, Caoimhín Kelleher, denied Axel Tuanzebe with a brilliant close-range save in the 34th minute after the ball fell kindly for the Burnley defender from a free-kick. Kelleher made another crucial intervention with three minutes remaining of the half, producing a strong hand to stop Flemming’s effort from the edge of the area.
Ouattara went one-on-one with Dubravka when the second half got under way, but the Burnley keeper produced an excellent save. Dubravka’s stop sent the ball straight to the feet of Thiago, who thought he had given his side the lead, but Ouattara was offside in the buildup.
Ouattara was at the centre of the action again after being put through on goal in the 80th minute and being fouled by Tuanzebe. Barrott pointed to the spot and after consultation with the video assistant referee the penalty was confirmed. Thiago calmly placed the ball into the bottom-left corner to give his side the lead.
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Michael Kayode gave Burnley a route back into the match two minutes after the restart when he fouled Jaidon Anthony in the box. Flemming kept his cool to level.
In a stunning turn of events, the ball fell to Thiago inside the penalty area a minute later and the striker made no mistake, blasting the ball into the top-left corner on the turn. Ouattara then wrapped up the win with an excellent finish after being put through on goal.
Burnley’s manager, Scott Parker, said: “Frustration, hurting, we knew how difficult this fixture would be. They have got some big results against big, big teams, so we knew the challenge ahead of us.
“In the first half, the game ebbed and flowed, we defend our moments. They can create huge pressure and stress on a team from set-plays and the ball coming into the box.
“We defended that really well and we had some opportunities as well. In the second half, it is fair to say that the pressure came even more on us and we could not get a foothold in the game.”
